FBCMG’s Citrus Hardiness Demonstration

Purpose: The purpose of the Citrus Hardiness Demonstration is to develop a table of the most cold hardy satsumas for Fort Bend County.

Objectives:

1. Plant and maintain twelve varieties of common satsumas
2. Gather data after each winter as to performance of each variety
3. Use gathered data to educate Fort Bend residents on successful varieties

This process began in 2013. Flying Dragon (dwarf) rootstock seedlings were planted in 2014. They were allowed to grow out for two years. Budwood of twelve Satsuma varieties was chosen and grafted to the rootstock in 2016 and 2017. The winter of 2017 killed several grafts necessitating the re-grafting in 2018.

The orchard is growing well. The target date for gathering cold hardiness data is 2020. This has been a long demonstration but will bear valuable information for the residents of Fort Bend County.